Puppy Awareness Week - 7th - 14th September

The British public is encouraging puppy farmers to breed sick
puppies, by effectively funding their horrendous practice, says the
Kennel Club.

Puppy Awareness Week 2013 is taking place from 7th - 14th
September. Its aim is to eradicate puppy farms, and the Kennel Club
believes that the only way to do this is to stop the demand from
the public. Shamefully, in the UK we hand over millions of pounds
to puppy farmers, rewarding them for over-breeding bitches and
breeding litter after litter of sick puppies in poor
conditions.

Previous research by the Kennel Club has found that around 1 in
3 of puppy buyers do not take the responsible actions that will
prevent them from possibly buying a puppy farmed puppy. This means
that potentially more than 250,000 people a year buy a puppy from a
puppy farm, and with prices ranging from £200 to over £1,000, puppy
farmers are making millions of pounds each year.

Kennel Club Secretary, Caroline Kisko said: 'It is time to stop
the staggering quarter of a million or more puppies that are
churned out by puppy farms each year. We want to reach out to puppy
buyers and stop them handing money over to dog breeders who don't
have a care about animal welfare. We want to stress to people that
they should never pay money to someone they suspect of being a
puppy farmer, even if they think they are doing a good thing by
rescuing the puppy from the situation. If this is the case, then
people should call their local authority or the RSPCA instead."

Puppy farmers breed dogs irresponsibly without regard for the
health and wellbeing of the puppies or the parents, without health
tests, injections or appropriate care or socialisation. Puppy farms
churn out litter after litter of undernourished and badly cared for
puppies and then sell them on to unsuspecting owners, through pet
shops, newspaper ads, online adverts and various other means.

The Kennel Club will be providing information during Puppy
Awareness Week to help people understand how to buy a healthy,
happy puppy and to raise money for the Kennel Club Charitable
Trust, which supports charities and organisations that are making
dogs' lives better.

Caroline continued: "It is easy to buy a puppy responsibly - at
the Kennel Club we have several thousand breeders who have signed
up to the Kennel Club Assured Breeder Scheme, who abide by a number
of rules and regulations which mean these breeders have committed
to breed their dogs responsibly. When looking for a puppy, look for
a Kennel Club Assured Breeder and always insist to meet the puppy
first, in its breeding environment with its mother."